boeing

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., $28.51, New York symbol GE, rose 11% on Friday on news that it is selling most of its GE Capital subsidiary, which mainly provides loans to GE’s clients. The company has scaled back GE Capital over the past few years, after the division suffered big losses in the 2008/09 financial crisis. Under the plan, GE will sell most of GE Capital’s office buildings and real estate loans to a group of investors for $26.5 billion. That’s equal to 10% of GE’s $259.0-billion market cap (or the value of all of its outstanding shares)....

Precision Castparts Corp., $213.79, symbol PCP on New York (Shares outstanding: 141.8 million; Market cap: $30.2 billion; www.precast.com), makes complex metal components and other products for aerospace and industrial firms. The company has three divisions:

• Forged Products (42% of total sales) manufactures specialized parts for jet engines, landing gear and other aerospace machinery, as well as industrial gas turbines and pipes. It makes these products from nickel alloys, steel and titanium.

• Airframe Products (32%) makes aircraft wings, fuselages, passenger doors and fasteners. It also produces parts for the power-generation and industrial markets.

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Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

WESTJET AIRLINES $30.27 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1- 877-493-7853; www.westjet.com; Shares outstanding: 127.8 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%) has taken delivery of its first Boeing 767 wide-body aircraft and says the plane will begin flights between Alberta and Hawaii in December 2015. WestJet has ordered three more 767s for delivery later this year. The bigger planes will offer greater range than the company’s current fleet of Boeing 737s and let it compete with Air Canada on international routes. Right now, WestJet flies to Dublin, Ireland, at the maximum range of its 737s. The new 767s will let it serve additional European cities, as well as South America or Asia....

MITEL NETWORKS CORP., $12.24, symbol MNW on Toronto, has agreed to buy Mavenir Systems (symbol MVNR on New York) for $560 million U.S. in cash and stock. Right now, Mitel mainly offers communication services to businesses over land-line phones. Mavenir will help Mitel move into the market for voice-over long-term evolution, or VoLTE. This technology repackages voice calls as data and transmits them over wireless networks. It’s quickly becoming the standard for high-speed wireless communications. Users of Mavenir’s networking software include T-Mobile and Verizon Communications. In all, the company serves 130 telecom firms, including 15 of the world’s 20 largest mobile carriers....

WESTJET AIRLINES $30.27 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk)(1- 877-493-7853; www.westjet.com; Shares outstanding: 127.8 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%) has taken delivery of its first Boeing 767 wide-body aircraft and says the plane will begin flights between Alberta and Hawaii in December 2015.

WestJet has ordered three more 767s for delivery later this year. The bigger planes will offer greater range than the company’s current fleet of Boeing 737s and let it compete with Air Canada on international routes.

Right now, WestJet flies to Dublin, Ireland, at the maximum range of its 737s. The new 767s will let it serve additional European cities, as well as South America or Asia.

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SYMANTEC CORP., $24.77, Nasdaq symbol SYMC, is our Stock of the Year for 2015. In 2000, we picked Symantec as our very first Stock of the Year. It was well established as the leader in antivirus software. We felt Internet banking and shopping were sure to fuel its growth. Symantec was slow to get going due to the end of Internet mania, the 2001 recession and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It fell from our initial buy price of $6.63 to as low as $4.00 in 2001....

In 2000, we picked Symantec as our very first #1 Stock of the Year. It was well-established as the leader in anti-virus software. We felt Internet banking and shopping were sure to fuel its growth. Symantec was slow to get going, due to the end of Internet Mania, the 2001 recession, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It fell from our initial buy price of $6.63 to as low as $4.00 in 2001. We stuck with it, and made it our #1 buy once again for 2001, and a third time in 2002. By 2004, it had soared to $34....

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendations on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

WESTJET AIRLINES (Toronto symbol WJA; www.westjet.com) serves 91 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. Its fleet of 109 modern Boeing 737s are 30% more fuel efficient than older jets.

In June 2013, the company launched WestJet Encore, its Canadian regional airline. This business now operates 14 Bombardier Q400 NextGen turboprop planes, which seat 78 passengers.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, WestJet’s earnings, excluding one-time items, jumped 30.9%, to a third-quarter record of $85.4 million from $65.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share gained 32.0%, to $0.66 from $0.50, on fewer shares outstanding. This was WestJet’s 38th consecutive quarter of profitability. Revenue rose 9.2%, to $1.0 billion from $924.8 million.

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WESTJET AIRLINES $32.05 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-877-493-7853; www.westjet.com; Shares outstanding: 127.8 million; Market cap: $4.1 billion; Dividend yield: 1.5%) serves 91 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. Its fleet of 109 modern Boeing 737s are 30% more fuel efficient than older jets. In June 2013, the company launched WestJet Encore, its Canadian regional airline. This business now operates 14 Bombardier Q400 NextGen turboprop planes, which seat 78 passengers. In the three months ended September 30, 2014, WestJet’s earnings, excluding one-time items, jumped 30.9%, to a third-quarter record of $85.4 million from $65.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share gained 32.0%, to $0.66 from $0.50, on fewer shares outstanding. This was WestJet’s 38th consecutive quarter of profitability. Revenue rose 9.2%, to $1.0 billion from $924.8 million....